skip to main content

20,000 Cables Under the Sea: The Internet and the Physics of Fiber Optics

43 minutes 42 seconds

Videos are generally available for preview to non-members as short clips. Limited full-length titles are also available. Log In to view the full length title.

Browse Full-length Non-member Titles

The Internet's mind-boggling flow of data that circulates so freely "in the cloud" does much of its real-world traveling beneath the sea in bundles of fiber-optic cable. Sets sail on the Leon Thevenin as a repair team identifies a damaged length of cable on the floor of the North Sea and then painstakingly splices in a new section. Also, discusses high-bandwidth digital developments such as naked-eye 3-D video and describes the principles of applied fiber-optic physics, cable-manufacturing processes, and cable-laying techniques that are making such advanced Internet technology a reality.

Media Details

Runtime: 43 minutes 42 seconds

Request a DVD
Members Only - Apply Now
Still frame of people examining produce outside a market on a busy city street. Caption. Have harbored smaller ethnic enclaves.
A History Of Chinese American Achievement
Season 0 / Ep 8
28 minutes 32 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Split screen of woman speaking with black and white photo of a senior man to her right. Caption. By a really unique individual name Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet.
AD Factory
Episode 9
28 minutes 38 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
Split screen. Closeup of sound equipment on left. Middle-aged man in plaid shirt sitting with hands clasped on right. Title card reads, "Tom Jucarone. Partner, mixer." Caption. Well, we started in 1998.
AD Factory
Episode 7
26 minutes 18 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
Color illustration. 3 panels. Left panel is a person in a wheelchair typing on a computer, the middle panel is a girl looking at a computer screen, the right is a boy outside with a cat. Spanish Caption. "Un mensaje de texto, armar un blog, chatear."
And Now What (Spanish)
Episode 8
22 minutes 27 seconds
Grade Level: 5 - 8
Digital illustration of 2 smiling girls sitting at a table with plates of food and cartons of milk. Word bubble reads, "Thank you!" Caption. For helping her with homework.
1 minutes 57 seconds
Grade Level: 3 - 6
Closeup of a boy looking up and away from camera. Caption. They started to take me seriously.
BizKid$
Season 2 / Ep 3
28 minutes 25 seconds
Grade Level: 5 - 10
Man wearing glasses, yellow collared shirt with necktie, and red suspenders looks at his wristwatch while a girl watches in a classroom. Caption. Male number 3 as narrator. Uh, Substitute Teacher, you got scammed.
BizKid$
Season 4 / Ep 7
27 minutes 42 seconds
Grade Level: 5 - 10
An electronic machine is being operated. Caption: He then sends himself the first electronic mail.
Butterfly Effect
Season 1 / Ep 12
25 minutes 59 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
Closeup of a young teenage boy and girl sitting and looking forward with their mouths slightly open. Caption. I didn't know that was something you could study.
Character
Episode 2
16 minutes 22 seconds
Grade Level: 4 - 10
Digital illustration of boy with an angry expression and word bubble with grawlixes coming from his mouth. Another boy holds a red ball and frowns. Caption. Making fun of him.
2 minutes 19 seconds
Grade Level: 4 - 6